Male Pig Frog (Rana grylio)
This Two-toed Amphiuma (Amphiuma means) was huge (~4.5 cm wide at head, probably 2.5-3' long). It took two crayfish out of my fingers. Their bite (referring to being handled by humans) has been described as "savage," with crushing strength and razor-sharp teeth. We made a couple attempts at capturing it after luring it partly out of its ambush spot, but perhaps it was best that we didn't get it in hand.
Male Broadhead Skink (Eumeces laticeps), another good biter.
Northern Scarlet Snake (Cemophora coccinea copei), an exciting find that I'd been looking forward to for quite some time. This is of course one of the neat coral snake mimics. Admittedly, I had to pause for a second just to make sure.
This is a well-marked Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platirhinos). They put on an intimidating display, but they're all bark and no bite in my experience. Unfortunately, they're often killed when people mistake them for a venomous snake. Toads make up a large part of their diet.
This young Eastern Mud Snake (Farancia abacura abacura) was probably the coolest animal I've seen in quite a while. There's something satisfying about finally seeing something that you've been looking forward to for years. My friend Brandon spotted it, so a huge thanks to him.
3 comments:
Your photos are amazing!
The name Mud Snake seems to be a very poor choice for such a beautiful animal. The scarlet snake is very cool, too.
Yeah. It's hard to get excited to see something called a mud snake unless you know what it looks like. It is an appropriate name for the snake's hunting grounds though.
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